The present invention relates to printed circuit board mounted electrical connectors, and more particularly to fasteners for positioning and retaining such connectors on printed circuit boards.
Fasteners for holding electrical connectors against printed circuit boards generally perform the tasks of holding solder tails of electrical contacts of the connectors in position against pads on the printed circuit boards during solder reflow as well as resisting board distortion and connector movement so that reliable solder joints form between the tails and pads. The fasteners also provide strain relief to protect the solder joints from breaking due to external forces such as those occurred during handling.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,987 issued on Mar. 13, 1990 discloses an electrical connector including a boardlock for mounting to a printed circuit board by an interference fit. The boardlock has a first portion for securing to the connector housing and a second portion for inserting into a boardlock-receiving aperture provided in the printed circuit board. The second portion of the boardlock has barb means thereon to engage interior wall of the boardlock-receiving aperture. In this design, it is noted that the insertion direction of the barb means when the boardlock is inserted into the boardlock-receiving aperture and the possible separation direction of the boardlock from the boardlock-receiving aperture are essentially co-linear.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,500 issued on May 31, 1994 discloses a fastener for holding a printed circuit board mounted connector without protruding through opposite surface of the board or requiring an excessive insertion force. This is achieved by a fastener comprising a clip rigidly supported by the connector body and a wedge supported by the connector body for sliding movement along the clip. This design involves provision of two separate elements, namely, the clip and the wedge, as well as the use of the wedge to urge the clip to engage with an inner surface of the hole provided on a printed circuit board.
There exists a need for a fastener with sufficient retention force to hold a printed circuit board mounted connector while is simple in construction and can apply to a variety of board widths.